Yesterday I had "Extra-corporeal Shockwave Therapy" (administered by Shockwave United, inc. - best company name ever!) I went in the morning and was apprehensive. There was local anesthetic, which was itself very painful as it entailed three rather deep shots into both feet. Afterward the numbing wasn't complete, thanks to my family's resistance to all the good drugs.

The procedure involved putting my feet, one at a time, on a large water-filled bag that looked sort of like a honey-comb, and sort of like a giant breast implant (which pyr8queen point out). Then something like 3500 shockwaves were administered to each foot. It sounded and felt not unlike being snapped by a large rubber-band several times a second. When the shockwave got close to my heel bone, it was extremely painful, but was otherwise hurty but bearable. It turns out I'm not very good at expressing pain, as I was supposed to say things to the podiatrist in order to let him know. I've internalized something of my grandfather's stoicism, at least in that regard, so I tended to automatically underplay just how much it hurt.

The whole thing took about an hour. I went home feeling like I was walking on Japanese wooden sandals. (Geta, not to be confused with the tragic Gaeta, who is dead.) For the rest of the day the anesthetic working its way through my body felt weird, and my feet were extremely tender. The doctor told me the superpowers would develop sometime between last night and this morning - if they have, their nature is as yet unknown. Perhaps I can turn lights on and off in China, and no one knows it's me.

Today I have foot pain, but it's not post-operative. More the usual stuff, really - though it seems not to be coupled with the weakness I've been feeling in my feet, just soreness. In some cases this therapy is known to have an immediate anesthetic effect, but in most it takes a month to really begin the healing process. Until then I'm restricted from being on my feet much, from walking more than half an hour, and from any vigorous foot-related exercise at all. I'm working from home this week to start that off properly.

I'm also entertaining myself by periodically swapping out the building manager's passive-aggressive notes on the door to ones that are more amusing. "For security purposes, this door must be closed at all times. Vandalism is your responsiblity" was changed to "This door must remain closed at all times. Wandering vandals and stray wolverines are your responsibility." That one was missing this morning, so I replaced it with "Vandalism is your responsibility. Get out there and vandalize something!"